Bulgarian MPs Set Upper Limits on Wages at Financial Regulator FSC
The Bulgarian legislators have imposed an upper limit for salary of the head of the country’s financial regulator, making it equal to the wage of the Speaker of Parliament.
A month ahead of the general elections, Bulgaria's parliament reelected on Thursday for another six-year-term the current governor of the central bank BNB.
Ivan Iskrov, 42, was supported by 165 votes in the 240-strong chamber, while 6 deputies were against. The new mandate will be effective as of October 10, the deputies voted.
The ruling majority rushed through Ivan Iskrov re-appointment in parliament just as easily as they filled in vacant posts in state institutions in a highly controversial vote last week.
The move was seen by the right-wing opposition as an attempt by the ruling majority to secure jobs for some of its MPs and install its protégées in key posts.
The term of the current governor of the Bulgarian National Bank Ivan Iskrov expires on October 9. Under local legislation a new governor can be appointed no earlier than three months and no later than two months before the term of the previous term expires.
This penned the date for new appointment no earlier than July 9, when the current parliament will already be dissolved.
The majority found a way out of this stalemate by explaining that the regulations concerning the election of a central bank governor are "instructive", not "binding".
Ivan Iskrov was appointed Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank in October 2003 after serving as head of the parliamentary budget committee on the ticket of the centrist party of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg.
Iskrov reelection is believed to be a trump card for pressing the party of Simeon Saxe-Coburg into making a number of concessions in the sharing out of key posts in the state among members of the ruling coalition.
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